Imust make it count.
The haunting words made the small hairs at the back of Amryn’s neck rise. She flipped a few more pages before her eyes caught on another phrase:
The Dragon must wake; terror will reign for all but the monster.
Unease filtered through her. The words were ominous enough on their own, but she couldn’t help but hear the echo of the bloodstone’s final word to her that fateful night in Esperance:AWAKE.
WasThe Dragonsome sort of coded name for a bloodstone?
She flipped through a few more pages, trying to find more scrawled text amid Von’s drawings and scattered thoughts. She found a few lines here and there, interspersed among a dozen pages.
Truth. What is truth?
I am not alone.
‘Beware the rising tide.’ I have heard it whispered in my darkest dreams.
The Bloodstones must be brought together. Theywillbe brought together.
TheFlamewill choose, and burn out.
When no one fights, everyone falls.
They must fight, and so must I.
A line must be drawn.
The line must end. It is the only way.
Broken men will be drawn to defend The Flame, the hope for us all. For without The Flame, there is no spark.
The Sword will defend, and be defeated.
Someone. Someone must rise. Who?
Perhaps it will be the monster. Or maybe the fire? Only one can live. Or will both die? All I know is that they are linked.
TheDragonwill rise, and fall.
The time is coming. Perhaps it is already here.
The Storm has come.
There is no peace, then.
Remember: the power of five, wielded by one, leads to an unstoppable end.
Nightmare or truth?
Truth . . . What is truth?
Von’s thoughts circled and spiraled. But as Amryn slowly flipped through the last few pages she’d read, certain lines of text stood out.
Flame. Sword. Dragon. Storm.
Those words kept appearing. Always capitalized and often underlined with a fierce swipe of a quill that dug deeply into the paper, sometimes even tearing it.
Seeing those repeated words, whispering them under her breath . . . Amryn hadn’t thought about it before, but perhaps she was reading the journal incorrectly. Rather than trying to read it from beginning to end, maybe she needed to read it by following one thread at a time. One thought.
